Accounting firm fee calculator
Replace everything in [square brackets].
What's in the workbook
Three working sheets after the read me. The first sets your price floor; the second turns it into a price for each service; the third plans the rise.
| Sheet | What it does |
|---|---|
| Read me | What the workbook is for, how to use it, and where it came from. |
| Cost of an hour | Works out what one billable hour of your firm costs to provide, from your own cost base and capacity, and the price an hour needs to earn to hit your target margin. |
| Pricing by service | Turns the cost of an hour into a price for each service you sell, from your own estimate of the hours each one takes in a year, and shows the gap against what you charge now. |
| Price-rise planner | Plans a price rise client by client: the old fee, the change you choose, the new fee, and when the notice goes out and the new fee starts. |
Shaded cells are yours to fill in. Everything else calculates from them. Nothing is filled in for you: no benchmark, rate, salary or fee is typed in as a default, so every result is built from your own numbers.
Sheet 1: Cost of an hour
Works out what one billable hour of your firm costs to provide, from your own cost base and capacity, and the price an hour needs to earn to hit your target margin.
| Line | Type | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Owner pay: what you want to pay yourself for a year | You fill in | Your own number. Count it as a cost, or the calculator prices your time at nothing. |
| Team salaries and on-costs for a year | You fill in | From payroll: pay plus retirement contributions, payroll taxes and insurance. |
| Rent and occupancy | You fill in | Leave at 0 if you work from home and claim nothing. |
| Software and subscriptions | You fill in | Ledger, practice management, tax, document and AI tools. |
| Insurance, memberships and professional development | You fill in | Professional indemnity, professional body fees, CPD. |
| Everything else for a year | You fill in | Marketing, travel, bank fees, advisers. |
| Annual cost base | Calculated | Adds up the six lines above. |
| People who do billable work (full-time equivalents, including you) | You fill in | Count a three-day-a-week person as 0.6. |
| Working weeks per person per year | You fill in | After leave and public holidays. |
| Hours worked per person per week | You fill in | What people actually work, not the contract. |
| Share of those hours that go on client work (%) | You fill in | The rest is admin, sales, training and running the firm. Use your timesheets if you have them. |
| Billable hours a year | Calculated | People x weeks x hours a week x the billable share. |
| Cost of an hour of capacity | Calculated | Annual cost base / billable hours a year. Below this, an hour loses money. |
| Target margin, as a share of the price (%) | You fill in | Your own target. The calculator does not suggest one. |
| Price an hour needs to earn | Calculated | Cost of an hour / (1 - target margin). |
- Annual cost base: Adds up the six lines above.
- Billable hours a year: People x weeks x hours a week x the billable share.
- Cost of an hour of capacity: Annual cost base / billable hours a year. Below this, an hour loses money.
- Price an hour needs to earn: Cost of an hour / (1 - target margin).
Sheet 2: Pricing by service
Turns the cost of an hour into a price for each service you sell, from your own estimate of the hours each one takes in a year, and shows the gap against what you charge now.
| Column | Type | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Service | You fill in | One line per service or package. |
| Hours a year | You fill in | Your estimate of the hours it takes for one client in a year, including review and client contact. |
| Cost of an hour | Calculated | Taken from the Cost of an hour sheet. |
| Cost to deliver | Calculated | Hours a year x cost of an hour. |
| Margin override (optional) | You fill in | Leave empty to use your firm-wide target margin; fill in to price one service differently. |
| Margin used | Calculated | The override if there is one, otherwise your target margin. |
| Price a year | Calculated | Hours x cost of an hour / (1 - margin). |
| Price a month | Calculated | Price a year / 12, for monthly packages. |
| What you charge now (a year) | You fill in | Your current annual fee for this service. |
| Gap | Calculated | What you charge now minus the calculated price. A negative number means the service is priced below your floor. |
- Cost of an hour: Taken from the Cost of an hour sheet.
- Cost to deliver: Hours a year x cost of an hour.
- Margin used: The override if there is one, otherwise your target margin.
- Price a year: Hours x cost of an hour / (1 - margin).
- Price a month: Price a year / 12, for monthly packages.
- Gap: What you charge now minus the calculated price. A negative number means the service is priced below your floor.
- Bottom rows (Total): totals and averages across the rows you have filled in.
Sheet 3: Price-rise planner
Plans a price rise client by client: the old fee, the change you choose, the new fee, and when the notice goes out and the new fee starts.
| Column | Type | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Client | You fill in | One line per client. |
| Service | You fill in | What the fee covers. |
| Current annual fee | You fill in | What the client pays now. |
| Change (%) | You fill in | The rise you choose for this client. |
| New annual fee | Calculated | Current fee x (1 + change). |
| New monthly fee | Calculated | New annual fee / 12. |
| Increase a year | Calculated | New fee minus current fee. |
| Notice sent on | You fill in | The date the letter or email goes out. |
| New fee starts on | You fill in | The date the new fee applies from. |
| Days of notice | Calculated | Start date minus notice date. Check it against your engagement letter. |
| Status | Pick from a list: Not yet sent, Sent, Accepted, Queried, Declined | Where each client is up to. |
- New annual fee: Current fee x (1 + change).
- New monthly fee: New annual fee / 12.
- Increase a year: New fee minus current fee.
- Days of notice: Start date minus notice date. Check it against your engagement letter.
- Bottom rows (Total): totals and averages across the rows you have filled in.
Before you rely on it
The cost of an hour is a floor, not a price. Value, scope and the client relationship decide where above the floor a fee sits. The workbook makes sure you know where the floor is before you have that conversation.
This workbook is a starting point, not financial, tax, employment or legal advice. It only knows the numbers you give it, so check them against your own records and take advice on anything you are unsure of.